Boy In Wonderland

There’s my son Matthew, 13, standing at what is for him the center of the universe: NASA’s Deep Space Command Central, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Matt and I spent most of today at JPL, given a special tour by my old friend Keith Comeaux, who was the Director of Flight Operations for the Mars Curiosity Rover mission. That is, he was the captain of the ship that sailed across the solar system and landed the Rover safely on Mars. I gained a massive pile of cool points with Matt for even knowing Keith Comeaux. Today, thanks to the generosity of Keith and his colleagues at JPL, several of home met with Matthew, answered his questions, and gave him advice, my son had the trip of a lifetime.

Those scientists cannot possibly imagine what they did for that boy today. Matt has loved space for a long, long time. When he was three, he told his mother and me to sit down on the kitchen floor, and he took apart a three-stage Saturn rocket, explaining to us how it worked. We thought it was … cute. He dropped space for a while, but went back to it two or three years ago, and is now is a passionate autodidact.

I warned Keith that Matt is not a typical space geek, that he has read deeply about the engineering of this stuff, and the history of both manned and unmanned space exploration. Still, I could tell that Keith was startled by this boy’s passion and depth of knowledge. Hell, I live with him, and I was shocked. It was like I wasn’t there — and I say that in a good way. He bonded right away with Keith, and off they went. I couldn’t follow their conversation. Matt and the scientist in charge of overseeing Curiosity’s mining operation got into an intense back-and-forth as Matt questioned him about how the drill was made, how it works, etc. That kind of thing, all day. Keith must be exhausted from having to answer all his questions, and great questions they were, too.

Here’s a question from me: Where were you when Curiosity landed? Here’s where Keith Comeaux was; he’s the guy jumping up and down pumping the air:

Matthew was at home in St. Francisville watching all this on TV. This morning, he was in that very room you see on the video, with Keith and three other scientists who were also there that night. They spent 20 minutes talking to them about their own path to JPL, and how they became scientists. They all said what you would expect — study hard, especially math and physics; focus on universities that train students for space careers at the top of the field; strive to get internships that help you build connections within the industry. But they all said that luck plays a role too. One of them, Miguel San Martin, an immigrant from Argentina, told Matt that he has already had a huge stroke of luck by being born in the United States of America. This is a country, Dr. San Martin said, where it really is possible for someone to go far in their field based on their capabilities and hard work. “Not every society in the world is like that,” he said.

Among other things, Matt got to see the Mars Yard, where a Curiosity “stunt double” helps scientists and engineers figure out what the real-life Curiosity can do, and can be made to do better. He learned that JPL scientists are working on Rovers capable of rolling upside down without falling, to make exploring Mars caves possible. And he got to see the “clean room” where JPL staff was busy assembling its SMAP satellite for launch in 2014.

Here’s what I saw today: my son as I’ve never beheld him before. I texted Julie several times during the visit, telling her that she wouldn’t believe how deeply and naturally Matt was into the groove here at JPL. I have never seen him so engaged, so intense, so at ease with himself, so … satisfied. It’s like he defied gravity for the first time ever. At one point, he leaned over and said to me, “I love it! I can talk to them, and they understand what I’m talking about!” Nobody else in his life does. It’s not that we don’t care about what Matt loves, but that we aren’t capable of sharing his degree of interest and knowledge, much less discussing it at his level. Today, though, he was with his people, in his place — and man, it was a glorious thing to witness. I told Keith privately, “I think you and I saw the birth of a vocation today.” I texted Julie to say, “Today really brought it home to me that he’s not ours.” Sad, but beautiful, and I mean that.

As I write this, we’re back in the hotel, and Matt, worn out from the greatest day of his life, is sound asleep. I wonder what he’s dreaming of.

UPDATE: Matthew’s kindergarten teacher said yesterday that she remembers him coming in and talking about what he had read in the NYTimes Science section that morning. I had forgotten that he used to do that. He also used to talk all the time in the spring semester of his kindergarten year about the Mars Spirit Rover. I had forgotten about that too. His trajectory toward JPL started almost 10 years ago. Man. That early. Matt spent his 11th birthday in Oxford with me, at a Templeton Foundation event that I attended to interview scientists as part of my Foundation job. I knew that Matt loved science, and England, and thought he would enjoy meeting scientists. Boy, did he; Vlatko Vedral , the quantum physicist whose specialty is quantum information theory, was a favorite of his. On his birthday morning, he sat at a cafeteria table across from Sir John Polkinghorne, a theoretical physicist, Anglican priest, and a dear, dear man. Sir John congratulated Matt on reaching the ripe old age of 11. I had forgotten about this as well. That kid has been extraordinarily blessed in his opportunities to meet and talk with scientists.

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59 Responses to Boy In Wonderland

Btw, they’ve also added a lot of public domain physics books to The Internet Archive . A lot of the stuff if from the 1970’s. Basic engineering and physics texts up to relativistic physics and mathematical cosmology. Again, all of it is in PDF which can be downloaded to the iPad.

Great post Rod. I’ve found that my deepest joy as a parent is to see my children truly happy. Not happy at having and getting things, but happy at experiencing the fulfillment of good and beautiful desires. It sounds like this is what happened to your son — and to you.

I’d second Anand’s recommendation of the Science Olympiad. I’ve spent years covering kids making rockets or building egg crates that are supposed to cushion an egg dropped from the top of the bleachers. They’re all activities meant to encourage kids to think creatively about science. The old science fair project is another good thing to consider, if you haven’t already done it, since it would give him the opportunity to compete and, provided the project is good enough, go on to the international science fair and meet with scientists and possibly win a college scholarship. Most of the really good kids have complex projects and are mentored by college professors at a local university. They also have an opportunity to use university labs. If you’re close enough to a university town, maybe you could talk with someone in the science department. Your average college professor would probably love to have a mentee like Matthew, especially after teaching a general ed. freshman course filled with students who might not want to be there.

Also robotics. In North Dakota, it’s primarily an after school competition, sponsored by local businesses and people with expertise drafted to be coaches. There’s a competition called BEST Robotics that has competitions all over the country. I think the organization sends the competing group a kit filled with robotics parts and guidelines for whatever that year’s rules are. Then the kids have to come up with their own design for the robot over a certain number of weeks. It would probably work really well for a group of home school kids. The site for the competition is: http://www.bestinc.org/

Anything goes “deeper” than ordinary high school courses. Throw in here some teachers who have degree in gynecology-auto mechanics and teach simultaneously calculus (or whatever goes under this title there), “science”, biology and English Literature, while leading a drama class between coaching football sessions (sarcasm) and you get the picture. I am terrified often by what is being done to kids in schools.

A well rounded education is way more important than knowing how to solve differential equations at the ripe old age of 16.

Never encountered (it is my personal experience, I could be wrong)16 year old kids capable of dealing with Laplace Transforms (just an example) or power series solutions. D.E. with separable variables is a completely different thing–they are easy and I DID encounter 16 y.o. who would eat those for breakfast, no sweat. I appreciate the virtues of the well-rounded education, but for the kids (and I work with “kids” from 12 y.o. to 32 y.o.) who want to find themselves in the field of either fundamental or applied science and engineering–there is no entrance into this world without solid base mathematically (especially understanding functions) and very solid physics background. This (physics) background should be provided in a very systematic manner. Many kids at the age of, well, 13-15 ARE capable of grasping basic concepts of Newtonian Mechanics, introductory level Thermostatics and Thermodynamics, Introductory level Electricity, including applications of Ohm’s Law. I am talking not about stories about Physics–I am talking about serious approach to problem-solving and labs. A lot of problem solving.

One of the coolest things about being a parent has been my kids pulling me out of my own orbit and exposing me to things I’ve never been very interested in, and sometimes flat out rejected. I love seeing them experience the world and I love the opportunity to experience new things, as well as old things I didn’t give their due.

It repeatedly reminds me of how little I “know” about myself, let alone the world.